The sounds of indie music floated through the air. Crowds of waiting students milled around, chowing down on free desserts.
No, this wasn't some fancy, school-sponsored event. This was ECo's first ever clothing swap, designed to educate students about consumer culture, as well as give them a way to switch up their wardrobes without participating in the polluting system known as "fast fashion". For high schoolers, retailers such as Forever 21 and H&M are hot spots, as they sell trendy items for a low price. However, these retailers sacrifice quality and ethical standards of production for price, making cheap clothes that pollute our environment. On average, our excess consumption of cheap clothing leads to 70 pounds of clothing waste per person that goes into a landfill each year. Some companies are working to become sustainable. Patagonia, for example, makes a point of remaining transparent to consumers and has several pages on their website devoted to explaining how they keep their clothing sustainable. Patagonia also sponsors a campaign known as "Patagonia Action Works", which helps consumers connect to local grassroots movements fighting for solutions to the environmental crisis. Sadly, not all clothing companies are as environmentally conscious as Patagonia. The clothing swap provided students with a way to bypass companies altogether; by switching their no-longer-used items of clothing for another person's, Mawrtians reduced waste and helped the environment.
The clothing swap was open to all students. However, students who donated items to the swap were given access to the items 15 minutes before other students; this incentivized participation. After seeing the huge turnout, ECo plans on having more clothing swaps in the near future!
